


We Are As One

by lsbnviking



Series: Tales from the Inquisition [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Background female Adaar/Josephine, F/F, Femslash February, Post-Dragon Age: Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3347690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lsbnviking/pseuds/lsbnviking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Inquisition has succeeded in defeating Corypheus and is now the reigning power in Thedas.  For Leliana, this means a reunion with someone she has been missing for far too long.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are As One

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is going to serve as a prequel of sorts to a series of one-shots that will eventually get written and posted, which all center around Female Adaar/Josephine Montilyet and Female Cousland/Leliana in a post-Inquisition world. FYI: Leliana and Elissa Cousland become momfriend and dadfriend, respectively, to Herah Adaar and Josephine Montilyet.
> 
> I am using their default names, despite the fact that neither my Adaar nor my Cousland have their default names. This is due to the fact that I named them the same thing, so it would be confusing on a story-level.

The Inquisition had fulfilled its mission.  The Breach was sealed, Corypheus was defeated, and the Inquisitor was safely tucked in bed, spooning Lady Montilyet.  The festivities had died down, though there were still some stragglers, shouting drunkenly at the heavens.  Leliana watched them from her tower, a soft smile quirking her lips.  She remembered that feeling, the bliss of victory.  Made many a man want to rip all his clothes off and dare the Maker to fuck him.  Made Alistair forget that his only friend left in the world had thought him unfit to rule Ferelden.  Ten years ago, things had seemed simple.  Defeat the Archdemon, travel Orlais with her love, settle down and live away from danger and intrigue.

 

Though she could never hate Divine Justinia, Leliana resented her, on the darkest of days when she longed for her love to return to her.  Too many years apart wore heavy on her mind.  Leliana sometimes wondered if Elissa Cousland still cared for her, still loved her as deeply.  Leliana’s own heart had not changed, though it nearly crumbled in loneliness far too many times for her to remember.  A large part of it was Cassandra.  Lady Pentaghast was so fierce, so quick to protect her friends, so willing to sacrifice herself on the battlefield that Leliana couldn’t help but think of her Elissa.  Her Elissa with a smile like fire, and eyes like the highest mountaintops.  Her Elissa who had gone away solely to see if there was a way to stop the Calling from taking her because she could not conceive of a world where she didn’t get a full lifetime with Leliana.  Leliana sometimes wished she wasn’t so selfish, that she trusted the Maker more.  But how could she trust in the Maker if her love were to wander into the Deep Roads one day and simply never return?

 

She shuddered at the thought, leaning against the pane-less window in her wall.  A raven trilled and swooped down to land on her shoulder, and she reached up to stroke its feathers.  The sky was awash with pinks, the sun slowly creeping over the walls of Skyhold.  In many ways, she felt lost.  Her job as Spymaster would certainly not endure, and once Cassandra was crowned Divine Victoria she would chose her own left and right hands.  They had discussed it at length, and both felt that retaining Leliana as Left Hand of the Divine would be difficult, as they were so used to working as equals.

 

A horn sounded in the distance, the deep thrum that usually preceded the arrival of someone important.  Leliana frowned.  She had not been informed of any dignitaries set to visit Skyhold, nor had she been informed of any prisoners for the Herald to pass judgement on.  The raven on her shoulder nibbled at her ear, and she belatedly realized that it had a note tied to its leg.  She should have known.  All her birds were trained to return to their perches unless they had a note with them.  But she hadn’t been expecting anything, not yet.  The breach was sealed, which would bring peace for a few weeks at least.  Slaying the Archdemon had bought a few months of peace before the nobles and various other powerful figures began sniffing around for things to exploit.

 

She gently unfurled the scroll, her hands trembling.  The scroll itself had no crest from the Inquisition’s allies pressed into the wax seal.  Leliana’s heart thrashed against her chest.  Only one person in all of Thedas dared write her without affixing a wax crest to the note.  She recognized the rigid scrawl of Elissa’s noble-trained hand, her heart nearly stopping when the three words finally reached her brain.

 

_I am free._

 

Leliana slid to the floor, pressing herself against the wall.  Elissa’s letter could have only one meaning.  She had found a way around the Calling, a way for them to live out their lives together without the fear that she would one day simply disappear.  Pure, unadulterated hope blossomed beneath Leliana’s chest, expanding to press against her skin.  Oh, how she wanted to trust in it.  The note was written by Elissa’s hand, true, but for her to be free?  Leliana had planned out many different ways to react to Elissa’s quest, but none were centered around Elissa having overcome the Calling.

 

She hadn’t noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks.  It had been so long, too long, since she’d allowed her emotions to get out.  Her body shook, causing the raven to squawk and fly back to its designated perch.  She pressed one fist against her galloping heart, willing it to slow down.  She would have laughed if air flowed easily to and from her lungs.  The Spymaster of the Inquisition, unprepared?  Josephine would be having a field day, if she weren’t curled against her love.

 

The sound of booted feet ascending the stairs broke Leliana from her internal panic.  Before she could lift her head, a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder.  A body lowered itself to sit next to her.

 

“Dear heart, why are you crying?”

 

Elissa’s voice, the greatest thing that had been missing from Leliana’s life these past ten years.  Leliana turned, pulling herself onto Elissa’s lap and burying her face in Elissa’s neck.  Her arms locked around Elissa’s chest, fingers digging into the soft fabric covering the dips in Elissa’s spine.

 

“Elissa…”  The sound forced its way from Leliana’s throat.  “Mon cœur.  I… I was not prepared for this…”

 

“I am free, Leliana.  We have all the time in the world to figure this out.  I will not leave.  Your Inquisition needs a better Warden than the imposter near the stables.  What’s left of us has decreed that I should be our attachée.”

 

Leliana’s grip tightened.  She felt unsure of herself, in the wake of victory against Corypheus.  Elissa could be a dream, this whole thing could be a dream.  She’d had many such dreams in the past, on the coldest nights when she felt she would never again feel the warmth of the sun.

 

“I was not prepared for this.  I have many plans - too many, Josephine thinks - but none of them were for the Calling being removed from you.  I…   _Mon cœur_ …”

 

Leliana's hands tug her headscarf away from her hair, and lips touch her forehead.  “I am here, my love.  I am real, and I am not going to leave you before our time.”

 

“I don’t know how to trust in that…  I have dreamed of you many nights, but you’re always gone by morning.”

 

Leliana found herself suspended in the air, cradled against Elissa’s chest.  “Guide me to your rooms, my Leliana.  I will be here when you waken.”

 

*****

 

Leliana woke with a gasp, one hand flying out to grasp at her bedding.  It encountered something solid, something that had not been present in her life for a long time.  She turned, heart in her throat, with eyes closed.  She sucked air into her lungs, her mind too cacophonous to be calmed.  She felt a hand cover her own, fingers lacing together.  This other hand was warm, calloused from years of hard labor.  It was a hand she knew well, and the storm in her mind quieted enough for her to open her eyes.

 

“You stayed.”

 

A lazy smile drew across Elissa’s lips.  “Dear heart, I wouldn’t have left.  I have slept very badly these last ten years.”  She tugged Leliana down, cradling the spymaster against her chest.

 

Leliana grinned, her nose crinkling.  “Come, _mon cœur_ , we should go down to dinner.  I need to eat at least once, _non_?”

 

Elissa laughed and angled their faces so that lips could brush together.  Leliana melted.  This… This was what lips were for, this was how life was supposed to be.  Her hands wound around Elissa’s neck and held her close, trying to breathe in the very thing her soul had been missing.  Maker, how she wanted to stay there forever, surrounded by the truest and purest form of love He had seen fit to give life.

 

But she pulled away.  “I have not eaten since last night.  Do you wish me to starve?”

 

“Come, then,” Elissa said, springing from the bed.  “Introduce me to all your new friends.”

 

How she had missed this, the strange way Elissa Cousland, daughter of the late Teyrn Bryce Cousland and sister to the current Teyrn Fergus Cousland, desired to be friends with every being on the face of Thedas.  During the Blight, she had woken at dawn each day with a spring in her step, waking all those who did not have final watch.  Nothing, not even a lovely Orlesian nude in her bedroll, could keep her from this grand adventure.

 

They descended into the main hall, hands linked together.  A gasp moved through the members of the Inquisition as they entered, and Leliana belatedly realized she wasn’t wearing her headscarf.  No matter.  She didn’t feel like a spymaster, or the Left Hand of the Divine.

 

“Well.”  The clipped voice of Cassandra broke the silence.  “It seems we are to be graced with the presence of the Hero of Ferelden after all.  I wish you well, my friend.”

 

Leliana smirked.  “Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast, have you gone soft?  Do you imagine Elissa and I are some sort of love affair like in your novels?”

 

Cassandra growled.  “I…  You…  INQUISITOR!”

 

Herah Adaar looked up from the plate of food in front of her.  “I told her nothing, Cassandra.  I figured our Spymaster would either already know or consider the knowledge irrelevant.”

 

Leliana smirked, waggling her eyebrows at Cassandra.  “My Dear Divine, if you simply must know, I found your stash of trashy novels years ago, just after Justinia named me her Left Hand.”

 

Cassandra made a noise that was akin to a dying wyvern, if Varric was to be believed in his retellings, and stormed off, presumably to go hit the training dummies with her sword.  The Iron Bull banged his tankard on the table, calling for more ale in honor of something or other.  Perhaps it was that there were still high dragons to slay and the Herald had promised to bring him along for a dragon-hunting excursion.  Varric was furiously scribbling in his notebook.  Cole, poor sweet innocent Cole, couldn’t stop staring at them, his brows furrowed.  Blackwall was tucked into a corner, consciously avoiding Elissa’s glare.  Leliana didn’t blame him.  That glare alone could have slain the Archdemon.   Sera giggled and clapped her hands together, reminding Leliana of the old days, before the Blight, before the Game.

 

A silence washed over them again when the front doors swung open.  “Cassandra said…  Oh, hello, Warden.”  There was steel to Cullen’s words.

 

“Commander Cullen.  I am glad to see your ordeals at the Circle near Lake Calenhad did not completely destroy your faith.  Though I do hear it took some time for you to deal with things.”  She nodded in his direction, her stance relaxed.  “I am sorry for what you went through, and I hope you understand that I could not justify murdering innocents.”

 

Cullen cleared his throat.  “I understand that now, Warden, even if I felt you were making a mistake at the time.”  He took a seat near Dorian, who was putting far too much effort in not looking at Elissa.  “I am glad you have come to us, even if it’s only so Leliana will stop pestering everyone about their duties.”

 

Leliana glared at him, fire glinting in her eyes.  “I never pestered Josephine, Commander.”

 

“Leliana, how many times to I have to say it?  Niceness before knives.”

 

Leliana rolled her eyes, mock-glaring at her longtime friend.  “Josie, there are times when niceness isn’t appropriate.  The Archdemon wouldn’t have died if we’d simply been nice to it, and the world would have ended with the Fifth Blight.”

 

“I’m sure Wynne could have pulled something off, dear heart,” Elissa said as she guided Leliana into an empty seat.  “Although perhaps subjecting the Archdemon to one of her lectures can’t be labeled as ‘nice.’”

 

*****

 

Leliana didn’t understand how Elissa could enjoy just lounging around the rookery, not when there were dragons to be killed and new recruits to be trained.  She could even be out pestering Morrigan, as the witch had yet to take her leave of Skyhold.  Perhaps she felt the same uncertainty, that neither of them were real and this peace, this togetherness, was all just a dream the Maker had given them to soothe their world-weary souls.

 

“Cassandra keeps asking me about you,” Elissa said one day, when the sun bathed Skyhold to the point where it gleamed like one of the Maker’s lost wonders.  “I think she has a crush on you and doesn’t know what to do about it.”

 

Leliana rolled her eyes, skimming through another letter from Duke Such-and-Such asking for the Herald of Andraste to preside over his small business dispute.  It’s a wonder the world ever ran without the Inquisitor around to decide every little thing for these nobles.  Bah, Orlesians.  Leliana may have been raised among them, but their Game was the only interesting thing about them.  At least they were learned enough to realize that politics and murder often went hand-in-hand.

 

“This Vivienne is quite interesting.  I have never known a mage so deeply in love with the idea of the Circles.  Even Wynne, who would have become First Enchanter if things had worked out differently, wasn’t particularly enthused about the way things are done.  And the way she looks at me…”

 

“Vivienne sees you as a political stepping-stone, _mon cœur_ , and with good reason.  She is already well liked by the Herald of Andraste, but to have the Herald’s approval and the approval of the Hero of Ferelden?  There would be no mage in all of Thedas who could stand as her equal.”

 

“Politics.”  Elissa spat the word as though it were the blackest of curses.  “You know Alistair is still angry with me for naming Anora queen.  The little bugger didn’t even want to be king, and yet he feels I should have elevated him?”

 

“He did not understand the Game, even if you Fereldans don’t play it like they do in Orlais. You are not one to trust your country to someone without the skills to rule it.  Anora was the better choice if the only options were one or the other.  Alistair’s pride would not have allowed him to rule jointly with her, even if it would have been better for the kingdom.”

 

“If Alistair hadn’t been such a child, perhaps he would have ruled jointly with her.  At least the Prince-Consort has a decent head on his shoulders, and they have a little boy who is being groomed as the next great King of Ferelden.”

 

Leliana smiled, remembering just how often Elissa had wanted to simply tie Alistair to a tree and leave him behind.  Most of it centered around the fact that he was senior Warden and should have taken charge, but he couldn’t see past his own pain at Duncan’s death to do what needed to be done.  A few times, when she had been deep in her cups, Elissa complained that he thought her kindness was attraction, that her speaking to him without screaming at him was her way of showing that she desired him.  Leliana couldn’t truly blame him, as she felt as though Andraste herself had returned to them whenever Elissa focused in on her and smiled.

 

“You’ll be pleased to learn, then, that he decided to become a drunk once he left our company.”

 

Elissa laughed, the sound rumbling from deep in her belly.  “Always knew he couldn’t handle the world without some sense of purpose.  How did you find out, dear heart?”

 

“Varric and Hawke met him in Kirkwall, before the Chantry exploded.  He apparently looked too much like one of the usual drunkards for Hawke to recognize one of the Wardens who were at Ostagar.  Now hush, _mon cœur_.  I have work to do.”

 

Elissa stuck out her tongue and curled up against some of the crates, her eyes closed.  Leliana couldn’t stop the smile that crept onto her face.  She was glad Josephine wasn’t up here, to tease her on just how girlish she was acting.

 

“You look like a girl dealing with her first crush, Leli.”

 

“Josie!”  Leliana nearly fell from her stool.  “I was not expecting you.  You’ve never been to the rookery before.”

 

The Ambassador sat on one of the crates, her fingers twitching as though she wanted to clean the tower right at that very moment.  “I…  As you know, Herah and I are… together.  I…”

 

“Josie, I stand by what I said.  You are an innocent in love.  Time is a luxury you both have.  Learn each other, _chatton_.”

 

Josephine huffed.  “That’s not quite what I meant.  I don’t know how to learn her.  She is so open one minute and closed off the next.  I… I don’t know what I was expecting.”

 

Leliana pushed her missives to the side.  “Josie.  I told you so many stories of Elissa and I when we were both in Val Royeaux.  I told you of how we managed to carve hours out for each other, even while running after each different treaty the Grey Wardens had and trying to stop Loghain Mac Tir from ripping Ferelden apart.  I told you of how we showered each other in gifts and traded secrets deep into the night.  But neither of us were innocents, _chatton_.  We had both already loved and lost many times.  The Herald is your first, Josie.  Your heart wants everything all at once and doesn’t quite know what to do.”

 

Josephine blushed, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.  “How do I know what is too much?”

 

“That all depends, Josie.”  Leliana smiled at her friend, reaching out to grasp her hands.  “But if our Lady Inquisitor so much as makes you frown, I will destroy her.”

 

“Leliana.  Dear heart.  Surely you don’t think I’d let you just off and destroy someone.”  Elissa had given up on her nap, instead frowning at the both of them.

 

“Well, you certainly wouldn’t let me go off alone, _mon cœur_.”  Leliana batted her eyes, laughing at the blush that raced across Elissa’s cheeks.  “Josephine is a dear friend, Elissa.  She reminded me of my duty to Divine Justinia when all I wanted was to turn my back on everything and run after you.”

 

Elissa stood and strolled over to where the two women were seated.  “A pleasure, Lady Montilyet,” she said as she kissed the back of Josephine’s hand.  “You are dear to my Leliana, and so you are dear to me.”

 

Leliana couldn’t contain her laughter at the blush that threatened to permanently stain Josephine’s face.  “Josie, trust yourself.  The Herald cares deeply for you.  She would have headbutted Lord Otranto if she had just been fighting for your freedom to choose.  But she wanted to impress you.”

 

Josephine blinked, her hands wringing together.  “If you’re sure…”  She nodded, seemingly to herself.  “Yes, of course you’re sure. I should not take up any more of your time.  Thank you, Leli.  Warden-Commander.”

 

“Ah, young love,” Elissa said in a voice that reminded Leliana of all those trashy romance novels she found hidden under Cassandra’s bed.  “Almost reminds me of us, you know, if either of us had been unaware of how to proceed in a romance.  Tragically, they cannot be us.  Oh, they can aspire to us, to our greatness, but the Maker has not seen fit to bless them with our unprecedented good looks and charm.”

 

Leliana smacked Elissa with a practice sword that Cullen had dropped once as he sped out of the rookery.  The action, of course, only caused Elissa to collapse in a fit of laughter.  Leliana rolled her eyes.  Warriors.

 

*****

 

No one had questioned Elissa simply moving into Leliana’s rooms.  Not that the Spymaster had expected them to object, but the fact that no one had mentioned it felt strange.  What didn’t feel strange, however, was reclining on sheets of Orlesian silk - a gift from Empress Celene herself - and watching as Elissa stripped down to her smallclothes.  No, this felt right, felt as though the Maker had weighed their lives and found them to be among the most faithful.  Nothing about this could be wrong, not when Elissa was lowering her body to Leliana’s, not when their lips were gliding together.

 

Elissa nipped at a particularly sensitive patch of skin on Leliana’s neck and Leliana gasped, her back arching as her body sought out any form of contact.  She needed Elissa’s skin under her fingers, needed to feel the weight of her lover that had long been denied her.  Skyhold had been strangely warm these past few weeks, and so Leliana had dispensed with wearing her shift to bed.

 

Words would never be enough to describe just how it felt to have Elissa covering her again, to be completely enveloped by what could only be described as pure unfiltered love, though even those words could not capture exactly what the Maker had gifted them with.  How could she do anything but believe in the Maker, now that He had given them the rest of a lifetime together?

 

Oh how she had missed this, the sliding of sweat-slicked skin against sweat-slicked skin.  Her body had craved touches like this, craved this reverence and gentleness.  Her own hands made do, when the nights seemed too long to bear, but nothing could compare…  Elissa was the sermon, the sin, the salvation.  Leliana could do nothing but cling to her and call out for the Maker, for Andraste, for anything that would keep this sweet ecstasy in her body.  But it could not stay.  Humans were not meant to contain such things.  It always combusts, voiced by a wordless cry.

 

Elissa rested her head on Leliana’s stomach, her face glistening.  “I am never leaving your side again, dear heart.  It has been too long since I indulged.”

 

Leliana laughed, a breathless sound more akin to the tittering ladies at Halamshiral than a battle-hardened woman.  “Mon cœur, if you think I will let you leave…”  She reached down and tugged at Elissa until they were face-to-face.  “I have waited for you all these years.  Our lives are finally entangled again.  You will not leave, even if I have to tie you up and keep you locked in my rooms.”

 

Elissa waggled her eyebrows, the tip of her tongue peeking from between her lips.  Leliana tugged at it, her hand sliding to cup Elissa’s cheek.  “If it helps,” Elissa said, one hand brushing locks of Leliana’s hair from her cheek.  “I would be a willing captive.”

 

Leliana smiled and buried her head in the crook of Elissa’s neck, breathing in the scent that had long since become her home.  She would sooner burn the world down than be parted from Elissa ever again.  They were two-who-are-one, sharing one soul between their two bodies - better together than apart.

 

*****

 

They sat together on one of the sections of roof that overlooked the garden, Leliana glaring down at Josephine and the Inquisitor.  Elissa was sprawled on a thick blanket, her hair fanned around her head.  One of her hands rested against the small of Leliana’s back.  They had returned to Skyhold late in the afternoon, having sojourned in Val Royeaux for Cassandra’s coronation as Divine Victoria.  In another world, Leliana would have raged at not being named Divine, would have demanded to know what was better about someone who had never had to live the hard life of a woman on the run.  But she didn’t need the validation of the Sunburst Throne in this one.  Elissa had returned to her, and they were as one.

 

“Why do you always glare at Herah whenever she’s with Lady Montilyet?  You like her well enough when they’re not around each other.”

 

Leliana lowered herself so that her head rested against Elissa’s shoulder.  “Josie is my truest friend.  I knew her in Val Royeaux, before Marjolaine framed me and almost had me killed.  She is kind and smart and brave, but she has never been able to understand her own heart.”  Leliana rested a hand against the Warden’s sternum, feeling the steady beat of her heart.  “I consider myself her protector.  She’s always needed one.”

 

Elissa’s breathing was evening out, a sure sign that she was falling asleep.  “They are both young and impressionable.  We’ll have to look out for them.”

 

“I thought you were done taking care of people after Alistair.”

 

Elissa tugged on Leliana’s arm until Leliana lay completely atop her.  “That is different, dear heart.  Alistair was a lost cause.  Those two are like mabari puppies.  They need guidance before they can truly become who they were meant to be.”

 

Leliana laughed.  “You just miss your dog.”

 

“You miss him, too.  I’ve never felt completely safe in a camp when there’s no dog to watch over us weary travelers.  You should have your Inquisition acquire a whole litter.  We could raise them.  Inquisition War Hounds.”

 

“Could I have one of my very own?”

  
Elissa ran her hands up and down Leliana’s back, her fingertips catching in each notch of Leliana’s spine.  “We could always have Schmooples the Second and Boulette brought to Skyhold.  I have missed the incessant chittering of nugs.”

**Author's Note:**

> This ended up longer than I expected, but the story just couldn't be told any shorter than this. Happy Femslash February, everyone!
> 
> ETA: This has been updated because I realized that I contradicted myself, in stating that Alistair was both king and a drunkard.


End file.
